Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As the purity discussion rages on, I was curious as to when something become "pure".

Case in point: In Ft. Lauderdale, green iguanas have become well established. In visiting the local park (Birch State) the past few years I've observed many stages and generations of them--seen the big green males turn breeding orange and I'm assuming all the youngsters I now see are a by-product of a successful season.

So when do these iguanas turn into "pure" floridana? Is it when a unique trait evolves to accommodate life in South Florida that differentiates them from their southerly brethren? Or is it simply when they are able to successfully reproduce and thrive?

Thanks!

Interesting question. Guess the first point is that every thing is pure, they're pure iquana

But what do you mean by pure? If you mean when do they become a new species, that depends on what you want to call a species. I'd tend to think its when they begin to look and/or act different from other groups of iguanas.

Guess that was not much help, LOL
Vinny
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“There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that whilst this planet has gone on cycling according to the fixed laws of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” -C. Darwin, 1859

Natural Selection Reptiles

They are feral, as in not indigenous to Florida and will always be feral. As for purity I would assume that they are pure Iguana Iguana so the genetic lines are pure. That has nothing to do with the interbreeding of species or subspecies in captivity.

Are the American crocodiles pure? They are the same thing that has a huge range through tropical South America, they just happen to range as far north as south Florida. They are really a “South American” crocodile. I’d say the Florida iguanas are now “Florida” iguanas. Not because they are any different (yet) but because they aren’t “Columbian” or “Nicaraguan”. Those two aren’t different from each other either, I guess. You might just as easily say a Bullsnake could be a Texas or an Oklahoma, etc. Not really a different thing, and breeding the two probably doesn’t do a darn thing to them, etc. All wild snakes are pure, in that their genetics are genuine. It is nature that requires all animals to diversify and continually add vigor to their lineage. It is only through man’s selective interference that the genetics are not genuine. Eastern chain kings could very well be in the evolutionary process of fading out chain markings into a melanistic type. Especially in the northern part of the range. That would be pure and natural. Breeding them to make sure that doesn’t happen, as in “preserving” the chain pattern, is what is not.

and all the minutiae darwin tracked between bird populations in the galapagos.
if all that 19th century mucky muck talk doesn't anesthetize you for a week it'll give you some potential talking points about speciation of I.i. floridana. Maybe they will cross with Anolis carolinensis to create a competitor with the nile monitors in Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve...

If you'd rather find something more current to fall asleep by, try Speciation, by Jerry A. Coyne and H. Allen Orr. ISBN# 0-87893-091-4. Actually a pretty good book. I might try to get FR to give it a review, hahahaha...
daveb

Nature has a way of surviving in the face of some incredible odds.
Adapting is nature's way of ensuring survival. A great way of adapting is getting the natural resistances of the local snakes, while keeping all the resistances of the parent. Therefore intergrades, crosses and hybrids are the natural extension of evolution. It still isn't nice to fool with mother nature, but she has ways to overcome and adapt.